1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imitation flame generating apparatus, and more particularly to an imitation flame generating apparatus in which the change of field variables relating to an appropriately coarse graining flame is computed using a coupled map lattice associated with the space in which the flame is represented.
2. Background Art
The operation of an illumination light source by varying the current supplied to the light source in order to electrically simulate the flickering of a candle light, for example, is generally known. There are various methods of varying the current. One of the most general methods is employed in an atmosphere-producing lighting apparatus in which light sources, such as light-emitting diodes, are supplied with a current that varies at certain periods over time (see, for example, Patent Document 1). An electric candle in which a lighting member is blinked using a random signal generating device, so that an irregular, rather than periodic, light can be obtained (see, for example, Patent Document 2) is also known. An illuminating device is also known in which, in order to obtain a more comfortable lighting condition by taking advantage of the 1/f fluctuation properties, an output waveform is generated using a 1/f filter, and a varying signal obtained by a wind velocity sensor is given to the output waveform (see, for example, Patent Document 3).
In another method of expressing the flickering of a flame, a religious device employs a flickering light member. In this method, an actual flame is subjected to chaotic analysis based on chaos theory on a personal computer in advance, and data with values relatively close to those of the flame is created and stored in a memory device. Then, LEDs are turned on using the thus stored chaotic data in a repeated manner (see, for example, Patent Document 4). In another example, an illuminating device comprises a plurality of light sources arranged in a manner resembling a candle flame. The amount of light emitted by each light source is varied based on a plurality of pieces of data stored in a memory device in advance, such that the flickering of the flame can be simulated (see, for example, Patent Document 5)
(Patent Document 1) JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-334606 A
(Patent Document 2) JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-21210 A
(Patent Document 3) JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-180977 A (1996)
(Patent Document 4) JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-245617 A
(Patent Document 5) JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 9-106890 A (1997)